RETURN TO CENTER: Carlos Beltran, returning to the Mets on Thursday after knee surgery, talks to the media yesterday at Citi Field. Photo: Jason Szenes

Better late than never.

Carlos Beltran, who was expected to be back with the Mets as early as April after having surgery on his right knee in January, returned to Citi Field yesterday, but will still have to wait until the team opens up after the All-Star break in San Francisco on Thursday to make his season debut.

The center fielder admitted his knee was still sore after rehabbing for the past month with Single-A St. Lucie following arthroscopic surgery on his bruised knee bone. He added he would have to continue wearing a brace for the foreseeable future.

“It doesn’t matter [if I’m] 80, 90, 100 percent,” Beltran said. “What is important is what they asked me to do, I did everything and I’m good to go.”

Asked if he thought he would be affected by the knee, Beltran was hardly overconfident.

“Who knows?” Beltran said. “The way I played in Port St. Lucie, I swung the bat well. But at the big league level, it’s a different story. … If I walk differently, it’s because I don’t have the same range of motion because of the brace, but it doesn’t mean I’m not capable of running [down] balls in the outfield or able to put pressure on my knee.”

Though Jerry Manuel said he would hit cleanup, Beltran said he doesn’t think he’ll be the Beltran of old.

“I don’t expect to come here and rake,” Beltran said.

Manuel said, “He’s come so far. He’s ready to go. He probably won’t be at the level of everybody else. That will take him some time. But he’s still a pretty good player.”

Manuel added Beltran will play center field and Angel Pagan will move to right when Beltran is in the lineup, meaning Jeff Francoeur will be the odd man out.

“I’m not dumb,” said Francoeur, who likely will face left-handers. “I see how Angel’s playing.”

Beltran said his most recent MRI exam showed that one part of his bone bruise is improving, and another part has remained the same, but it feels better than it did last year when he returned in September.

“Everything that I did, I did it like it was playing for the New York Mets at the big league level,” said Beltran, who wanted to come back last week. “I didn’t feel like I was favoring my knee.”